“Fountain of Waters” by Chester Beach in the Cleveland Museum of Art Fine Arts Garden

From the Cleveland museum of Art website : ” I know of no other example of landscape art as beautiful as this where such a large part of the population pass daily and enjoy it.” Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., of the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm, is of course referring to the Fine Arts Garden. The garden fills the approach to the Cleveland Museum of Art from Euclid Avenue, and is bordered on the east and west by East Boulevard and Martin Luther King Boulevard, respectively. The Fine Arts Garden was formally presented to the city of Cleveland by the Garden Club at a dedication ceremony on July 23, 1928.

The Cleveland Museum of Art was built on land donated by industrialist Jeptha Homer Wade II. This land is located in Wade Park, which was donated to the city in the nineteenth century by Wade’s grandfather, Jeptha Homer Wade I. Prior to the construction of the museum, Wade Park was a popular recreation area that included a lake for boating and skating, walking paths, and picnic areas.

Construction of the museum decimated the landscape surrounding the building. For several years after the museum opened in 1916 the park was minimally maintained by the city. The unsightly bit of land between the museum and Euclid Avenue was the subject of much criticism during this time. In 1923 the Garden Club of Cleveland, whose library was housed at the art museum, appointed a committee to study the problem of beautifying the area.

Through various fund raisers garden club members were able to hire the firm of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park in New York City, to design the Fine Arts Garden. These images represent the firm’s vision for the Fine Arts Garden.

In addition, members of the club, the art museum, and community at large donated funds to commission artist Chester Beach to sculpt the “Fountain of Waters” and signs of the zodiac statues. Funds also were donated for the purchase of marble benches, terraces, and other pieces of statuary for the garden. All of the funds to establish the garden, over $400,000, came from private donations. Maintenance of the garden is funded through an endowment established by Mrs. John Sherwin, president of the Garden Club at the time the garden was planned.

The Museum Archives houses records related to the planning and construction of the Fine Arts Garden including records of the Fine Arts Garden Commission, records from the Olmsted Brothers firm, planting plans and blueprints, and photographs. For more information, see the Records of Fine Arts Garden finding aid.”

For more info: www.clevelandart.org/collection-focus-article/fine-arts-garden

Today’s Quote: The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.” – Abraham Lincoln

The History of UH Cancer Program from its website: University Hospitals has had a renowned cancer program throughout its history. Since the 1940s when it was part of Cleveland Cancer Consortium, UH has contributed major clinical and scientific cancer treatment advancements. In 1981, the UH cancer program received substantial support from the State of Ohio through Robert Livingston Ireland Jr.’s (Feb. 1, 1895-April 21, 1981) efforts, a prominent Cleveland business executive who had a long and distinguished career with the M.A. Hanna Company and the Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Company. He was a member of University Hospitals Board of Directors for more than 40 years and Chairman of the Finance Committee. Mr. Ireland, who was ill with bone cancer, wrote a letter to his good friend Governor James Rhodes to support funding for a cancer center at UH. In response, Governor Rhodes requested the Ohio Legislature approve $14 million for the cancer center. This government earmark partially funded construction of outpatient cancer facilities in University Hospitals Bolwell Health Center and new state-of-the art cancer technology. In 1982, hospital leadership recognized Mr. Ireland’s efforts by naming the cancer program University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center. That same year, University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University merged their respective clinical and laboratory research resources to form a broader-based cancer center. National Recognition In 1987, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) named UH Ireland Cancer Center the first clinical cancer center in Northern Ohio. The center’s partnership with Case Western Reserve University attracted recognition and funding for innovative research. From its beginning, UH Ireland Cancer Center has strived to provide the highest standards of care for cancer patients, to make new discoveries about treating the disease through clinical research and to reach out to the community through educational efforts and information on the effectiveness of early screening. As a result of the outstanding work of its faculty and staff, UH Ireland Cancer Center attained the National Cancer Institute’s highest designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Care Center in 1998 – it retains that distinction today. Through the years, UH cancer services grew to seven sites on UH Case Medical Center campus. New Era The cancer program embarked on a new era of patient care with the opening of UH Seidman Cancer Center in 2011. This 120-bed hospital consolidated all UH Ireland Cancer Center’s services under one roof. The center is named in honor of Jane and Lee Seidman who generously donated $42 million in support of Vision 2010: The UH Difference strategic initiative. UH has always thrived because of the community’s generosity. Through philanthropic leadership and continued support, we move forward strengthening our fight against cancer and honoring the individuals who have helped us build that foundation. For more information: http://www.uhhospitals.org/seidman

Today’s Quote: Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. – Henry David Thoreau

Today’s photo is of St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Cleveland, Oh. St. Theodosius is located on Starkweather Ave in the citys historic Tremont area. Tremont is one of the most accessible neighborhoods in the city of Cleveland. It is considered one of the finest examples of Russian church architecture in the U.S and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Todays photo is of the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). This beautiful new building is within walking distance of both Little Italy and Wade Oval. Here is some information directly from MOCA’s website about the new building:

“MOCA’s new building is designed to serve as a catalyst for creativity and growth in a cosmopolitan Cleveland neighborhood, which is home to one of the country’s largest concentrations of cultural, educational and medical institutions.

The nearly 34,000-square-foot structure, which is 44 percent larger than MOCA’s former rented space, demonstrates that a museum expansion need not be large in scale to be ambitious in all respects. Devised for both environmental and fiscal sustainability, the design is at once technically inventive, visually stunning and highly practical.

The dynamic structure was designed by Iranian-born Farshid Moussavi of London, formerly with Foreign Office Architects (FOA) and now principal of Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA). This is her first U.S. commission and her first museum.

In addition to FMA, the design team includes executive architects Westlake Reed Leskosky, headquartered in Cleveland and designers of more than 50 cultural buildings throughout the United States.

Moussavi says that museums today are not just homes for art, but serve multiple functions and host a variety of activities. “Our design for MOCA Cleveland aims to provide an ideal environment for artists and visitors and to foster creativity and variety in exhibitions and programs.”

Because MOCA is a non-collecting institution – one of the relatively few such contemporary art museums in the country – its new building does not need to accommodate collection galleries, says MOCA Executive Director Jill Snyder. “This building’s design is a perfect expression of the museum’s philosophy and programs. Flexibility is key to a program like ours that embraces aesthetic, conceptual and cultural diversity, and displays works in a great variety of media and genres.”

The four-story building, which anchors the Uptown district, rises 60 feet from a hexagonal base to a square top, where the primary exhibition space is located. All four floors contain areas for either exhibitions or public programs.

Clad primarily in mirror-finish black Rimex stainless steel, the façade will reflect its urban surroundings, changing in appearance with differences in light and weather. Three of the building’s six facets, one of them clad in transparent glass, will flank a public plaza designed by James Corner Field Operations, a New York-based landscape architecture and urban design firm. The plaza will serve as a public gathering place and will link MOCA to Uptown attractions and amenities, including the expanded Cleveland Institute of Art, designed by Burt, Hill with MVRDV, and new commercial space and residential units, designed by Stanley Saitowitz/Natoma Architects Inc.

Upon entering the building, visitors find themselves in an atrium where they can see the dynamic shape and structure of the building as it rises. This space leads to MOCA’s lobby, café and shop, and to a double-height multi-purpose room for public programs and events. From there, visitors may take MOCA’s monumental staircase, a dominant architectural feature of the building, to the upper floors. On the top floor the 6,000-square-foot gallery space has no fixed dividing walls, allowing for a variety of configurations. This floor also contains a gallery designed for new media work and the Dick and Doreen Cahoon Lounge, which overlooks the plaza and Uptown.”

The history of industry in Cleveland has always interested me. Samuel Mather, Henry Chisholm, John D. Rockefeller, and Charles Brush were just a few of many great men to bring industry to Cleveland. Some of that industry is still around today. Arcelor Mittal now employes some 1,850 people at its Cleveland steel works and a short drive away you can visit Charles Brush’s Nela park (now GE).

For some more great information on Clevelands industrial past and present please visit:

This photo of downtown Cleveland was taken from the Columbus Rd. Bridge. From Wikipedia: “Cleveland obtained its name on July 22, 1796 when surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company laid out Connecticut’s Western Reserve into townships and a capital city they named “Cleaveland” after their leader, General Moses Cleaveland. Cleaveland oversaw the plan for what would become the modern downtown area, centered on Public Square, before returning home, never again to visit Ohio. The first settler in Cleaveland was Lorenzo Carter, who built a cabin on the banks of the Cuyahoga River. The Village of Cleaveland was incorporated on December 23, 1814. In spite of the nearby swampy lowlands and harsh winters, its waterfront location proved to be an advantage. The area began rapid growth after the 1832 completion of the Ohio and Erie Canal. This key link between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes connected the city to the Atlantic Ocean via the Erie Canal and later via the St. Lawrence Seaway; and the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River. Growth continued with added railroad link. Cleveland incorporated as a city in 1836”.

Today’s Quote: “Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe”. – Voltaire

The Cleveland Cultural Gardens are a collection of public gardens located in Rockefeller Park in Cleveland, Ohio. The gardens are situated along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive within the 276 acre of wooded parkland on the city’s East Side. In total, there are 31 distinct gardens, each commemorating a different ethnic group whose immigrants have contributed to the heritage of the United States over the centuries, as well as Cleveland.

“ERIE ST. CEMETERY, preserving E. 9th St.’s original name, has been a municipal cemetery of controversy since 1826. Cleveland village trustees, desperate to replace the informal community burial ground south of Public Square with a permanent site, purchased the location for $1 from Leonard Case. So remote and spacious was the land that the council permitted a gunpowder magazine (1836) and a poorhouse-hospital on the unused portion. Disgruntled heirs of the original lot owners, claiming infringement of a covenant restricting use to burials, fruitlessly sued Cleveland in federal court (1836-42).For Progressives, beginning with Mayor Tom Johnson the cemetery mocked an efficient city. His administration, which developed Highland Park Cemetery (1904), reinterred bodies there, not without opposition, and reclaimed land from Erie St. for city streets. The struggle resulted in the Pioneers’ Memorial Assn. (1915), which was influential in the decision of City Manager William Hopkins in 1925 to build the proposed Lorain-Carnegie Ave. Bridge around rather than through Erie St. Cemetery. Following this, serious attempts to remove the cemetery ended. Complaints of neglect inspired WPA action, including erecting a fence fashioned from the demolished Superior Ave. viaduct’s sandstone. In 1940 the refurbished cemetery of historic graves, including that of Sauk Chief , was rededicated.”

“On the recollection of so many and great favours and blessings, I now, with a high sense of gratitude, presume to offer up my sincere thanks to the Almighty, the Creator and Preserver. “- William Bartram

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From Wikipedia: “The lower Cuyahoga River has been subjected to numerous changes. Originally, the Cuyahoga River met Lake Erie approximately 4,000 feet (1.2 km) west of its current mouth, forming a shallow marsh. The current mouth is man-made, and it lies just west of present-day downtown Cleveland, which allows shipping traffic to flow freely between the river and the lake. Additionally, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers periodically dredges the navigation channel of the otherwise shallow river to a depth of 27 feet (8.2 m), along the river’s lower 5 miles (8.0 km), from its mouth up to the Mittal Steel Cleveland Works steel mills, to accommodate Great Lakes freighter traffic which serves the bulk (asphalt, gravel, petroleum, salt, steel, and other) industries located along the lower Cuyahoga River banks in Cleveland’s Flats district. The Corps of Engineers has also straightened river banksand widened turning basins in the Federal Navigation Channel on the lower Cuyahoga River to facilitate maritime operations”.